


Love is a Battlefield

by Wewheresobeautiful



Series: Butterflies, Honey and other Mishappenings [4]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic, Arthur Pendragon Is King, Developing Relationship, Evil plots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-10 15:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8921779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wewheresobeautiful/pseuds/Wewheresobeautiful
Summary: Now Arthur knows about Merlin he feels he needs to know more about magic but his kingdom is in need and he can't find his uncle anywhere. For the first time since his father's death, he's left alone to handle the kingdom problems.





	1. The golden dagger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theres so many typos in this. So many 
> 
> Be aware.
> 
> I'll fix it at some point.
> 
> Just not right now because I'm a lazy piece of crap. 
> 
> Enjoy, hope you can figure out what I was trying to say!

The hut was dank and dark. No matter how she tried the smell of mold would never leave as water trickled down the walls from the tree roots above. But it had its purpose, she would soon be back in the Castle, back amongst the tapestries and candles. The pot was steaming as she stirred, cascading down the sides and covering her feet in a thick layer of black smoke. She smiled and dipped a glass pot deep inside the depths of the thick liquid, covering her boney white hands. Plugging the bottle with a small cork and slowly blowing across her hand to remove all traces of the black liquid as if it was dust. Soon, she missed her bed, her maids, her kingdom.

 

————————

 

He couldn't find his uncle anywhere! And her checked the whole castle, and by checked he of course meant sending Merlin running around the grounds for the past hour and a half while Arthur sat at his desk, tapping his quill against the desk, thinking if all the things he needed to cover before the council meeting at noon. The Blacksmith Lost half his Silver to a thief last night meaning they had to deal with sudden lack of weapon repair, if it broke it stayed broken for now putting their Knights at risk for having to use the practice swords on patrol. Gaius needed herbs for the sudden influx of births the power town where experiencing, he was losing far too many innocent people to the pain of childbirth and he needed Gaius on his best to prevent it. Not to mention the kitchens had run out of firewood due to the cold nights and they desperately needed a large supply if they were going to get the feast for tonight ready and survive the chilling night that was ahead. He had solutions in mind but without the aid of his father he was unsure of their effectiveness at solving the many issues the kingdom faced. 

 

When Merlin returned his cheeks were pink and he bent over with his hands on his knees as he puffed in breath only to reveal at he could not find Agarvain anywhere in the castle or upper town. Now Arthur was worried, was his uncle ok? Captured maybe by a rival kingdom in the hope of taking Arthur down? No, he was over thinking this,he was somewhere, safe just hiding. He could get this done, he could sought the kingdom out without his uncle's help. But not without Merlin double checking everything first. 

 

——————

 

“What do you need from me?” 

 

“Just pour it into the lower towns water supply, it will spread on its own. Take water from the river, you'll only need it for two days before the potion takes effect”

 

“Anything for you my priestess” 

 

—————

 

“Merlin!” Arthur couldn't find his dam boots! He had a training session in half an hour and he had to stop off at the blacksmith's on the way to the grounds to drop off his old swords for sharpening, he needed his best Knights to be armed with what he considered the best, the rest of the army would have to do with whatever other swords the servants found and sharpened to replace what they broke till the patio came back with more Silver from the mines. Gwaine was off with Percy collecting firewood for the kitchens and he had decided to go with Merlin to find these herbs for the lower town, with them both looking he knew they'd get it done twice as fast. 

 

“I'm right here you don't have to shout” Merlin said with a smile, bending over the side of the bed to pick up Arthur's hunting boots and handing them too him with a smug smile. 

 

“I know but it's hard to tell sometimes if you're deaf considering how often you ignore my orders” Arthur grabbed his boots and pulled them on quickly, watching Merlin gather his bag and coat from the corner of his eye as he tucked his trousers into the length of his boots. It had been a few days now since what Arthur was calling the bath incident. Merlin found him slumped over his pies fast asleep with his legs crossed tight. Of course he had been teased mercilessly throughout the rest of the day as Merlin kept staring at his hair and making him think he had pie crust in it in a stressful sequel to the stew incident. 

 

“Have you packed my dagger, and my Red coat not the-” 

 

“Blue I know it itches and I've got your dagger and a spare for me just like always even though I don't need one nor have ever used it” Merlin handed over his bag for inspection while he pulled on his jacket and stacked the breakfast plates to take down to the kitchen while Arthur dropped the swords he had painstakingly found scattered all across the four corners of Castel. 

 

“Good, very good” Arthur muttered to himself as he pretended to look through the bag that he knew Merlin had packed perfectly. The dagger was his favourite, sharpened personally when Merlin left him for the night, polished handle with a simple gold pattern of Ivy branches crawling up to the shape silver blade. He bought it as a birthday present that he never gave Merlin. He couldn't do it, it seemed to forward, too beneath him somehow. His father's teachings had gotten to him and he simply could not bring himself to provide his manservant with a gift of celebration. So he found another way. He use to fear for poor Merlin, so frail and oblivious, what would happen if Arthur wasn't there to defend him? What if he got captured while fetching the camp water? Well, now he knew. The dagger was no longer needed, Merlin could create creatures from thin air, send them off into the sky and let them be free, who knew what else he was capable of. Maybe he could even crush Arthur like twig if he was inclined, but Arthur would never know. His father had forbid him from ever having access to the history books in the library that outlined the powers and battles of Druids. Maybe Merlin was the weakest of the warlocks or the most powerful, maybe he was just alright as far as magic whent. Arthur would never be certain, he couldn't be seen accessing the forbidden books as a king that demanded a magicless kingdom. Maybe he could confined in Gaius, he had been part of the magic community once, perhaps he would be kind enough to answer his questions in confidentiality. Yes, after the gathering he would confided in Gaius, he would have to be clever though, he would not put Merlin at risk. 

 

“How deep is that bag? I didn't pack that much for your big head to get lost in there" Merlin said with a smile, grabbing the bag from Arthur's hands and slinging it over his shoulder as he picked up the dirty trays and nodded at the pile of swords for Arthur to grab before they left the grounds in search for Giaus’ herbs.


	2. Enchantment led chaos

The lower town had to be cut off. It broke Arthur's heart to do so. Something was happening, something he didn't understand even after all of Gaius’ teachings and the books he had borrowed from Geoffrey. But it had to be done. No supplies, no escape, men, women and children trapped there to die. He didn't sleep, he poured himself into the Castle plans, battle strategy and magic books (that he would promptly hide under paperwork should Merlin rush in with food and wine only to rush back off to help Gaius find a cure). The people were going mad! He didn't understand, they were violent, mindless and cold hearted. But apart from their behaviour nothing was wrong. They weren't unwell, they didn't have any signs for enchantment but they were blood thirsty monster. The lower town where the farmers, the provider's to the Castle and it's people, he couldn't afford to lose them but he had too. They could survive on the Castels vaults for now if the noblemen sucked it up and choose bread and mutton over steak and gravy pies. Arthur was basically living on bread dipped in wine, much to Merlin's dissatisfaction. He came in every two days or so to scold Arthur for not sleeping and force him into bed for a few hours sleep and a slice of mutton on some heavily buttered bread. 

 

He would figure this out, as much as Merlin nagged him and told him to focus on restricting the spread of this madness while he and Gaius worked at curing it he needed to do this himself. He knew that if he didn't try he would hate himself, those lives he had to sacrifice would be for nothing, all that blood spilled while he sat up in luxury and waited for it to resolve itself. No he would work and work and work till his hands bleed and his eyesight got fuzzy. He was no longer and ignorant king. He knew what Merlin and Gaius were doing to solve this and he couldn't let them do it alone. 

 

————

 

Why couldn't Arthur just do as he was told. He and Gaius had this under control, kind of. Gaius had figured out it was some kind of enchantment that all the victims had ingested but they could figure out where from. The power town shared everything with the upper town from grain to cloth to produce. The only thing it could be is the lower town had a small well that was dug when they had first settled because the main supply was such a trek for the farmers. But Merlin had checked and there was nothing there. He had even taken a sample back to Gaius and he found nothing also. All they knew is that it wasn't spreading, for now. Merlin sealed off the well for good measure before racing out of the town before his neck was snapped by some mad farmers wife. 

 

There were a few what had seeped into the higher town before that gates were shut. Most of them were killed but one was taken to the dungeon for Gaius to evaluate, an elderly farmer that had provided the Castle with its best wheat for over 10 years. Merlin had tried nearly every spell in the book but it did nothing. The man would just sit there motionless and staring at the brick walls. He would only move if you came too close to the bars, lunging forward in the hopes of grabbing your tunic and smashing your forehead against the bars till you went limp. Merlin had already learnt that the hard way. 

 

And still Arthur was sitting up from dusk till Dawn eating wine soaked stale bread till his eyes went fuzzy. Merlin had to admit that on more than one occasion he had slipped one of Gaius’ sleeping potions into his goblet just to get Arthur off his feet and onto his bed for more than 5 minutes. He didn't know what was really happening and he couldn't. Merlin knew what he had to do, and Arthur could never know. He had found three spells that might cure the enchantment but he hadn't had a moment to sneak down and try them out with his mind full of worry for his king. 

 

Agrarian wasn't any help either. He just kept telling Arthur to seal off the Castle and let the people destroy themselves. A great plan really, only that would destroy Arthur, so on second thoughts a terrible plan. He knew something was up with Agarvain, always did since the money he showed up out of the blue to help Arthur with the kingdom. All this time he had never spoken to his nephew, never even a letter for his coronation. There was something wrong with him, Merlin just didn't know what yet. 

 

————————

 

“They're falling, my priestess” 

 

“Good, open the gates tommrow night. Let his people destroy him. We will attack at dawn”


End file.
